Antigone Essay

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Tragic Heroes: Antigone or Creon?

In the play Antigone by Sophocles, the topic of tragic heroes is a very important thing. It is very controversial the fact of Antigone being a tragic hero. Many discuss that Creon is the actual hero, but I believe Antigone has much more necessary traits of a tragic hero.

Antigone is more heroic than Creon, she takes risks and she is brave. When her own blood brother is sentenced to eternal suffering by being denied a burial, Antigone decides to break the law and risk her own life for her brother; “But I will bury him; and if I must die” (1.55) said Antigone, all for the sake of Polynesis’s eternal rest. Creon, on the other hand has no heroic traits apart from wanting the best for the people; he humiliates Antigone and her sister in public. This value and importance Creon has for the people’s opinion is destroyed when the people protest Antigone’s death, and he does not decide to follow what the people believe. Gentlemen, I beg you to observe these girls: One has just now lost her mind; the other, It seems has never had a mind at all (1.150) said Creon. Creon humiliates his own nieces publicly.

Tragic flaw is a very important characteristic for a tragic hero. Both Creon and Antigone have a very strong sense of pride, but Antigone’s tragic flaw is her lack of fight. Antigone was very heroic and brave at first, Creon now punishes her, and she does not fight back, but she simply badmouths her father. “O Oedipus, father and brother your marriage strikes from the grave to murder mine (7.40-41) says a coward Antigone. Creon, on the other hand who is supposed to be the strong king of the land, does not manage to control his anger, and fights his own son in an argument. This can be considered a sense of pride, since Creon did not want to change his opinion.

Part of being a tragic hero is having a destruction. Creon, who sent
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